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Archiver > TMG > 2001-09 > 0999535151


From: Richard Brogger <>
Subject: Re: [TMG] Step children and MAILMEN and Philosophic Musings
Date: Mon, 03 Sep 2001 11:39:11 -0500
References: <006201c1346c$7be063a0$c40aa8c0@swbell.net>


Mike Fox wrote:
>
> In a broader sense, the problem is the millennia old mindset that "blood is
> thicker than water". It's the paternalistic, legalistic approach that has
> made bloodlines all-important and superior to all other relationships to
> their total exclusion as the proper subject of genealogy. It isn't going to
> happen, but the family historians among us would better off if we did away
> with the word "genealogy" and thereby rid ourselves of its baggage.

Hi Mike,

I don't think we need to do away with the word "genealogy". I think
that we need to understand what it means.

genealogy

genealogy (jê´nê-òl´e-jê, -àl´-, jèn´ê-) noun
plural genealogies
1.A record or table of the descent of a person, family, or group
from an ancestor or ancestors; a family tree.
2.Direct descent from an ancestor; lineage or pedigree.
3.The study or investigation of ancestry and family histories.

[Middle English genealogie, from Old French, from Late Latin
geneâlogia, from Greek : genea, family + -logia, -logy.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Third
Edition copyright © 1992 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Electronic
version licensed from INSO Corporation. All rights reserved.

Please note the origin - genea, family

IMO, anyone who believes they can establish their direct bloodline
decent from any distant ancestor is either using DNA or living in a
fantasy. In any generation there is the possibility of a milkman
and a certified birth certificate proves nothing. All we can do is
determine who claimed to be the mother and father. When childbirth
was in a hospital, the chance of a swap exists so even those who
claim to be the mother and father could be wrong.

I put a lot of weight on pictures. I see pictures of ancestors and
they look like me or I look like them. Does that mean we are
related by blood? Not at all. In Moriarty, NM I saw a man and
woman walking a dog. If I had not seen them face to face, I would
never have believed a picture, all three looked related to each
other!

Richard

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